In Episode 333 of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald speaks with journalist and author Justine van der Leun about her new book, Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment and Extraordinary Survival. The conversation explores a troubling reality within the criminal legal system: how survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse are often criminalized rather than protected. Drawing on years of investigative reporting and extensive research, van der Leun examines the stories of women whose attempts to survive violence ultimately led to their incarceration.
Van der Leun explains how her investigation began with the case of Nikki Addimando, a New York woman convicted after killing her abusive partner while claiming self-defense. The case prompted a larger question: How often are survivors punished for acts committed in the context of abuse? To find answers, van der Leun conducted a groundbreaking survey of approximately 10,000 incarcerated women, receiving more than 1,000 responses. Her findings suggest that a significant portion of women in prison are there because they acted to protect themselves or loved ones from violence, while many more carry extensive histories of abuse that went unaddressed by social institutions before they entered the criminal legal system.
The episode highlights the stories of three women featured in the book: Tanisha Williams of Michigan, who became entangled in a murder case after being coerced by an abusive partner; Gemma Heffernan of Missouri, who fought back against a husband who subjected her to years of violence; and TC Brooks of California, who killed her abusive stepfather after enduring years of sexual abuse and witnessing ongoing violence against her mother. Through these stories, van der Leun argues that the legal system often struggles to recognize the realities of coercion, trauma, and survival, instead relying on rigid categories that separate victims from offenders.
Throughout the discussion, Greenwald and van der Leun examine broader questions about accountability, systemic failure, and reform. Van der Leun contends that many of the women filling America’s prisons were failed long before they entered the criminal legal system and that their cases reveal deep structural shortcomings in how society responds to abuse. The conversation offers a powerful look at the intersection of gender, violence, trauma, and incarceration, challenging listeners to reconsider who the justice system punishes—and why.
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